Well, here they are; I added some videos from YouTube, most are live versions and not what I really listen to. I notice now that the first two are composed to the words of Champions League poets. Not surprising, since words are what I listen to in a song.

1. Antony and the Johnsons – The Lake

   I always like Antony, but this is the song that really brought me into his world and made me understand him and all his music. You may have known a slightly different version of this poem.

   Poe:

   In youth's spring, it was my lot
   To haunt of the wide earth a spot
   To which I could not love the less;
   So lovely was the loneliness
   Of a wild lake, with black rock bound.
   And the tall trees that tower'd around.
   But when the night had thrown her pall
   Upon that spot-- as upon all,
   And the wind would pass me by
   In its stilly melody,
   My infant spirit would awake
   To the terror of the lone lake.
   Yet that terror was not fright--
   But a tremulous delight,
   And a feeling undefin'd,
   Springing from a darken'd mind.
   Death was in that poison'd wave
   And in its gulf a fitting grave
   For him who thence could solace bring
   To his dark imagining;
   Whose wild'ring though could even make
   An Eden of that dim lake.
   

2. Susan Graham – L' Heure Exquise

   And Susan in number two. She could sing Abba songs and still be on this list. I'm not the kind of person to develop a fetish about a singer since I fell out of love with Jim Morrison in 1984, but her voice connects directly to the place I go when I dream.

   Verlaine:

   La lune blanche
   luit dans les bois.
   De chaque branche
   part une voix
   sous la ramée.
   O bien aimée. 
   
   L’étang reflète,
   profond miroir,
   la silhouette
   du saule noir
   où le vent pleure.
   Rêvons, c’est l’heure. 
   
   Un vaste et tendre
   apaisement
   semble descendre
   du firmament
   que l’astre irise.
   C’est l’heure exquise!
   

3. Susan Graham - When I am laid in earth

   And here she is again at #3. This is the first aria I heard of her; not the version on the video below, but the one conducted by John Eliot Gardiner; I still remember the emotion I felt, standing up in front of my tuner listening to Antena2 and hoping that they would name the singer in the end. They did.

4. Arcade Fire – Wake Up

   I lost a decade of music starting from the middle 90s. I'm not sure why, maybe I got old. 2004 was the year when I was in tune with music again, busily discovering new music on KEXP and WFMU and the Arcade Fire were a big part of that. Maybe now I'm becoming insensitive to their music, but here they are at number 4 and 5.

5. Arcade Fire – No Cars Go
   

6. Patrick Watson – The Great Escape

   Nothing to say about these lovely guys, except "Obrigado Maggy!".

7. The National – Cherry Tree

   It is only logical that this song would end up here, it is asking to be played on repeat on the background while I'm doing something else and not paying any attention to it.

8. Susan Graham – L' Enamouree

   Sorry, I couldn't find a video for this one...

9. Editors – Escape the Nest

   And here are the Editors, the greatest average band in the world... My appreciation of this song is heavily influenced by their concerts; they are a moving band live, transparent even in their affectation.

10. The Stone Roses – Made Of Stone

    It was quite hard to find a video for this one on YouTube. I am a great fan of the punk revolution of the 70s. It brought democracy to creating music: everyone can create meaningful music, without regard to their natural abilities. Everyone, even the less gifted player or singer can make music worth listening to. Everyone? No! It is impossible to listen to Ian Brown singing outside the protective shell of a studio. But he was a master clown and this would be the only song of this list that I could pick for my personal top 10. It's also one of my favourite driving songs; yes, I can appreciate the irony.

    "Amateurs! Amateurs!"

a voz demasiado explícita, rouca e masculina
vibrante de canto
de distorções abruptas

um desejo bestial; ou inumano - inocultável.

[Mais aqui sobre uma das grandes paixões da minha vida...]

À espera, provavelmente em vão que o Spirit acorde. Eh meu amigo Spirit...

A caminho do cometa Churyumov-Gerasimenko a Rosetta visitou este castiço calhau. A foto (linda) é do asteróide visto enquanto a sonda se afastava. Olá calhau, somos nós, os da terra! Nunca mais nos voltaremos a ver, o espaço é grande, as naves são poucas, a vida é assim.

[Só agora me apercebo como Lutécia é grande em relação aos outros asteroides e cometas que já visitámos.]

o frio caiu, com amor e violência
empurrado do céu: escondes-te agora
água de fevereiro, muda de medos;
rápido como granizo se destrói todo pensamento

Poema antigo, talvez de noventa e cinco? O navio chamava-se City of Liverpool entre noventa e cinco e noventa e sete, quando foi rebaptizado African Senator. Começou a vida em oitenta e dois já se chamou Campania (várias vezes), Red Sea Equinox, Arbitrator, CGM Languedoc e agora é o DD Success e já não é vermelho. É verdinho. Mas ainda é perseguido pela ferrugem, a ferrugem nunca dorme.

Não sei se é o mesmo City of Liverpool que foi atacado pelos rebeldes Tamil do Ceilão há uns anos. Hoje, nove de Julho de 2010 está ancorado no Mar Amarelo (mais propriamente no Mar de Bohai), perto de Pequim, longitude 119.1441, latitude 39.14851. Curioso leitor, podes seguir as andanças deste velho cargueiro aqui.

Obrigado à Anne-Marie pela foto.

The problem is that sometimes something in the middle will decide how long is too long. Then you will get an error such as this (in Firefox):

"The connection was reset .
The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading."

This could be the browser giving up. For Firefox type "about:config" in the address bar and increase the value of network.http.keep-alive.timeout.

But... it can also be some other device in the way, such as a load balancer. Load balancers are one of those needed nuisances that always fail you. They may well decide that enough is enough and they are going to cut that connection, even if you really wanted to wait for the page to finish doing its job. If you can go around load balancers you can avoid these problems. If not... start optimizing that web page loading time to fit into whatever the load balancer thinks is enough or do your heavy work in the background (like you always should).

Ok, so I waited a long time for this bird and earlier this year I stayed awake a few nights waiting for news and pictures of the first flight on Komsomolsk-on-Amur. When the pictures came I was quite disappointed. It was almost like Paralay had drawn it and I hoped it wouldn't be. But a few months and hundreds of photos and videos later I am getting used to it. It lacks the refinement and grace of the snow cammo Su-35 bort 902, and seems unfinished and disproportional... but it is growing on me. In flight it looks threathening and retro-futuristic, like something that Ming the Merciless would send to chase Flash Gordon. I will say it: it reminds me of the Drakken.

I don't know what role Putin played in bringing this bird to life, but I am sure at least he didn't held it back, so thanks Mr. Putin! Not that you had much choice if you wanted your country to remain relevant, but at least you didn't pull a TSR-2.